Maybeboard


Why is Djeru 'Night's King'? Because when he appears, the white walkers are sure to follow...

[The name idea came from this alter video]

This is not a CEDH deck. I don't think Djeru can be taken to that level with an unlimited budget. We're just going to try and have a nice competitive game of Commander.

How we're looking to win:

There are many ways we could build this. The way we're looking to go is to control the board for the long term. We're going to win through other players killing each other and then picking off the last one or two with our tokens or by an Approach of the Second Sun.

We accomplish this by taxing, limiting the number of spells our opponents cast, and resetting the board (while preserving our Planeswalkers). We'll also be engaging in Misdirection and a bit of psychological warfare.

We're, also, not looking to immediately get to the ultimate on our Walkers. If we get to that point and it's strategically to our advantage of course we'll do it. We're also not trying to proliferate the heck out of counters.

Planeswalkers are perhaps the most vulnerable type of permanent in the game. They can be attacked, the can be targeted for removal (either burn or straight up destroyed), can be returned to hand, they can be affected by mass removal and (with a few exceptions) can be countered. There often an immediate red flag on them with "destroy on sight" written on the flag.

Some of this can be put to our advantage. Planeswalkers can be used to confound, to soak up damage. Cast a Planeswalker as a distraction and make the table attack it instead of us.

With this in mind we'll be looking at only the best white & colourless Planeswalkers. We'll be judging them based primarily on their first two abilities. The final ability will be practically an after though, something that's nice when it happens but we won't be going out of our way to make it happen.

What are we looking for in our Planeswalkers?

1) Tokens

2) Removal

3) Protection

4) Utility

Elspeth, Sun's Champion - Once upon a time, this card dominated standard. In commander she's not quite at that level but, she does well at token making, three in a go, and said tokens can handle her middle ability as well. Commander players like their creatures big and that's what Elspeth does best.

The Eternal Wanderer - Providing protection in her static text and her and making Samurai body guards with her 0 ability. We'll likely be starting with her -4 leaving everyone with just one creature. Her +1 also helps our game plan by blinking our Commander or Thalia's Lancers and letting us find another Planeswalker friend. We can also get cheeky and reset the loyalty on a Gideon whose a creature or one holding Luxior, Giada's Gift .

Gideon Blackblade - All of the Gideons work well with Luxior, Giada's Gift this and the next one are duking it out for best holder. The reason the Gideons are so good is they can turn themselves into creatures and get a further buff. They also give themselves some sort of protection, damage prevention or indestructibility or both. Gideon Blackblade is so good because he turns into a creature every turn through his passive ability. Then we can activate a loyalty ability. A flexible combat ability or the elimination of a non-land card.

Gideon, Champion of Justice - The second worst Planeswalker of All Time [12:40] according to the Professor. Seems like a joke when he hits the table. This Gideon has the potential to be the biggest, most loyal, of all our Planeswalkers. The plus one can add a ridiculous amount of loyalty. This Gideon can take that combat damage. More than that, -15 can loom pretty quickly over the board and the idea of a reset with this left over will prompt a response. Essentially, Gideon, Champion of Justice is a big distraction, a damage sponge & one of the best targets for Luxior.

Gideon Jura - Another Walker whose moment in the sun has passed. When he was in Standard the first time he was called the white Time Warp because of his +2 forcing the opponent to attack him instead of you or other Walkers. He would also have enough loyalty left over to do it again. Or use the -2 to remove a threat. With his massive loyalty combined with Luxior he's ready to go on offense.

Gideon of the Trials - The Gideon Planeswalkers are a pretty solid line up. Nothing game breaking but just solid team players. This Gideon is a payoff for playing so many Gideons. His second 0 creates an emblem that adds Platinum Angel's text to all our card:Gideon of the Trails|Gideons. Just Gideon sharing some of that immortality. The +1 can help protect our Gideons from one attack. The middle ability is the standard make this Walker a creature until end of turn.

The Wandering Emperor - The first Planeswalker with Flash, when it comes into play it can use any of it's loyalty abilities right away. This makes the Emperor incredibly flexible. We can exile a big attacker. We can create a Samurai to block a small attacker. We can also cast her for value at the end of turn. Not sure how great she is in Commander, she's definitely good.

The Wanderer - Primarily here for her static text, making our walkers immune to being burned out by spells or abilities. Her only loyalty ability is also super strong. Exiling a big problem creature is no joke. A strong choice for Elspeth's Talent.

Ugin, the Ineffable - Just slightly edging out Karn Liberated. If we're going to talk about Planeswalkers with final abilities we'll never use that's Karn Liberated. This Ugin's static text will far FAR more useful. The first ability we're likely going to use the -3 to deal with the biggest threat. After that we'll manifest with his +1. With a little luck or Foresight we'll have Sensei's Divining Top to help sculpt this Ugin's +1.

Ugin, the Spirit Dragon - Big ole Eugene. Unless we're exceedingly lucky when the Spirit Dragon hits the table we'll use his -X to clear out all the trouble permanents. Hopefully, leaving us with something. After that it's a race to the ultimate using his +2 to control the board or remove problems. Hitting the ultimate usually means the game is over. There's a very narrow interaction with Ugin and Approach of the Second Sun. Play Ugin and +2, next turn cast Approach of the Second Sun then +2 Ugin. Then we hold our breath and when our turn comes around we use the ultimate on our Spirit Dragon drawing us the Approach. With seven free permanents AND Approach of the Second Sun in hand the game is well and truly over. Unlikely? Hell yeah. Hell of a story? HELL...F*&KING...YEAH.

Since the beginning of the game there has been a need to wipe the slate clean and start over. The threats and abilities have also evolved and there isn't a silver bullet for all situations (and there shouldn't be). We'll be using a variety of ways to wipe the board that are at great in most situations.

Austere Command - Flexible mass removal. We'll most commonly go for kill all the creatures modes. In an ideal situation we'll go with the mode that kills the most of our creatures and leaves some of ours untouched and then destroy all the artifacts or enchantments. Again whichever is to our advantage.

Farewell - Austere Command gave us two of four choices. Farewell gives four options and we can take any or all of them. Oh, and destroy is so passé. Farewell is more than a name it's what happens after it resolves. Everything we choose will be exiled. Planeswalkers cannot chosen so the backbone of our deck will be safe. Graveyards will almost always be chosen unless we're about to read the third chapter of Elspeth Conquers Death.

Martial Coup - If all we wanted was tokens Secure the Wastes would be better. However, we want to clear the board AND leave ourselves with a bunch 'lil blockers. If we're stuck on land, need a couple of blockers to try and get through the turn, yes, we'll use it. This is a plan b situation. This is also better than White Sun's Twilight because despite the life gain the creatures it creates can't block.

Tragic Arrogance - The punishing but fair counterpart to Cataclysm's scorched earth policy. Everyone gets to keep their lands but, we get to decide which creature, artifact, enchantment and Planeswalker each player gets to keep. Good time for a little bit of negotiations.

Urza's Sylex - A board wipe somewhat tailored to our deck. Like Nevinyrral's Disk it's mass destruction that everyone see's coming. It's also weaker in that we can only use it on our turn. When Sylex is exiled we can pay to search up a Planeswalker. Not necessarily by Sylex's own effect. It's unlikely but not impossible we can do this. Exile based removal is preferred over destroy based in Commander/EDH.

Vanquish the Horde - Same idea as Blasphemous Act. The larger the horde the less it costs. Day of Judgment that usually costs or just . The cost reduction can also cover colourless taxes.

Wrath of God - The classic. Straightforward. Well costed. Printed a thousand times so it's cheap. No reason to not include.

Arena Rector - Cousin to the Academy Rector. On their death they can exile themselves to bring out any Planeswalker in our deck. Like the original this card can be a poor man's Moat, with people not wanting to attack for fear of what will happen next. Unlike the original Rector we're putting a permeant on the battlefield that is far more fragile than an enchantment. We need to be careful of who we get based on the turn order. Clearly, if it's the current player's turn and then us we'll get the most advantageous Walker we can. If we have to wait for three more turns we may want to get a distraction walker or nothing at all. With Emeria, the Sky Ruin in our deck we MIGHT be able to get it back later or use Mistveil Plains to put it back in the deck in the hopes of drawing it again. There’s also narrow situation where after we play Ugin, the Spirit Dragon then follow-up with Arena Rector use the +2 to immediately kill this and get another Walker.

There are a couple of interesting interactions with lands we control. With Maze of Ith we can send it in and if it's not blocked by a creature with deathtouch or 2 or greater power we can pull it out of the attack and let it guard the Moat again. The other is with Eiganjo, Seat of the Empire. Send in the Arena Rector and channel the land to get a Planeswalker at the best possible time.

Esper Sentinel - This can tax our opponents mana or draw us up to three cards each turn, fairly remarkable for . Its use as a draw engine declines quickly as mana bases and mana rocks usually explode out of peoples hands because we don't have a consistent way of making the Sentinel bigger. Look at this card as tax and less a way of drawing.

Expedition Map - First targets are usually Nykthos or Untaidake. Once we hit the right number of Snow-Covered Plains Emeria becomes a good choice. If we're backed into a corner Glacial Chasm and Maze of Ith are good go tos.

Land Tax - When Deep Gnome Terramancer was spoiled the following statement had to be changed. Mono white has ALMOST no ramping land search in it. MOST of it searches for lands to catch up with other players with no guarantee the lands come into play. That precedent was set by Land Tax. At its best turn 1, when we're not going first, but anytime we're behind on lands it's always a welcome sight. Every upkeep we'll be thinking about the number of cards in our hand, add in a draw and what spells we'll be playing. In most circumstances we want to take as many Snow-Covered Plains as possible but not discarding cards. There are a couple of key interactions with our other cards. Sensei's Divining Top allows us to get a fresh three cards when we're locked down with bad cards. Top is also a reason we may not want to skip an advantageous search because the perfect card is our next draw.

Recruiter of the Guard - Unlocks our creature toolbox. Do we want to dig out a Planeswalker get Arena Rector. Need to stop an opponent from storming off? We have Archon of Emeria or Eidolon of Rhetoric. Need to slow down attacks? Baird, Steward of Argive and Onakke Oathkeeper. Need to prevent damage from from a looming Pestilence or Pyroclasm type cards? The back side of Reidane  , Valkmira, Protector's Shield  , has us covered. The ceiling of this card is sky high. We can always expect to be get new creatures with 2 power in every set.

Search for Glory - What should be played instead of Call the Gatewatch. Search does exactly what Call for the same cost and we aren’t limited to just Planeswalkers. Snow-Covered Plains aren't just a flex, we can gain up to 3 life when cast it. Is it Demonic Tutor? Of course not but, for mono white it's pretty great.

Thalia's Lancers - A 4/4 first strike for is a good rate. That AND a search for a legendary card makes it perfect for our deck.

Urza's Saga - a temporary mana source that will give us up to two bodies and an artifact all for free? Of course it should be here. The Construct tokens will help block or push damage. At the end we have a a variety of pieces to search for. Mana rocks like Sol Ringto push us ahead. Sensei's Divining Top to smooth out our draws. Even Ancient Den if we really need to coloured mana. This card could be found with Search for Glory or Expedition Map. The end of the Saga can be turned to our advantage with Land Tax putting us a land behind and turning its effect on.

One of the ways we're trying to lock down our opponents is limit the number of spells to one per turn. This'll Imprison a lot of combo decks, Storm decks, decks that chain a lot of mana rocks for big time ramp, or decks that play many cheap draw spells which sculpt their hands. Which will help even things out for us as it doesn't matter how many cards one draws if only one can be used. This also favours Counterspell decks. We'll also be limited to one. Luckily we'll have our Planeswalkers to act as spells.

Archon of Emeria - The Archon has a lot of good things going for that make it stealth great but, not quite in the overpowered category. First, everyone is limited to one spell per turn. Second, it punishes Commanders greedy manabases by forcing opponents non-basics to come into play tapped. Even if it were cloned we're mono white and won't affect us much. Third, the fact it has flying gives our Planeswalkers more protection from attacks. The third point of toughness helps stopping chip damage can't be underestimated either.

Deafening Silence - If we're only playing one of these cards, this is it. It's the least expensive to play. It's an Enchantment so it's the most difficult permanent to remove. Going first or second we'll cut off fast mana development of players who like to link a bunch mana rocks to start. If someone wants to chain a bunch of creatures, it's less than ideal but we have wraths to clean them up. Letting someone storm off is something we can't handle any other way.

Eidolon of Rhetoric - A walking Rule of Law makes for a decent defender. The fourth point of toughness makes it a little bit more difficult to deal with. Probably, the worst (or maybe the least good) of this quartet. Being an enchantment AND a creature opens them up to more removal (less than if it was an Artifact Creature).

Ethersworn Canonist - Probably the weakest of this group of cards because what she's limiting everyone will have plenty of, artifacts. It's not uncommon for folks to chain two or three mana rocks together. Then they'll be able to cast one big thing every turn. We'll be trying to do the same thing. Let's do it better than them!

Rule of Law - The original card in this genre of cards is card:Arcane Labratory. This is just a colour-shifted version.

Mangara, the Diplomat - He's not a hard one spell per turn, but he certainly discourages more than one spell be cast. He also discourages the number of attackers at us and our Walkers. Being a 2/4 Lifelink is pretty solid for .

Vexing Baublefoil - This is not always the best card but in the games it has relevant text we're glad we have it. If nothing else it cycles for .

Reprieve - Now that we're limiting the table to one spell per turn what are we going to do with unused mana? There are already a number of cards that we'll use at the end of our opponent's end step. We can also do something unexpected...counter spells. In white we're pretty limited. Reprieve gets around spells which can't be countered.

Lapse of Certaintyfoil - The best tricks are the ones you don't see coming and no one sees a white Counterspell coming. There are no limits on what can be countered. It's almost better that the spell is put on top of the owner's library. It stops them from drawing a new card or if they want the searching is out of the question. If it's a game ending card, like Exsanguinate or Torment of Hailfire, it'll really the table against that player because they'll know what's coming next.

Archangel of Tithes - A creature which makes blocking & attacking harder on our opponents. AND This plus any white permanent will make Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx profitable to activate.

Archon of Absolution - 2 toughness is rough compared to Archangel of Tithes & Baird, Steward of Argive it makes up for this with protection. The protection from white helps with Path to Exile, Swords to Plowshares and their ilk.

Authority of the Consuls - Does a lot of what we are looking to do with our deck. Negating haste, giving us time to prepare for attacks and making our opponents vulnerable to attacks from everyone else. Giving us life is handy and if there's a player at the table who has an infinite creature combo it will be helping us out too.

Baird, Steward of Argive - Does a weak impression of Ghostly Prison and helps protect our Planeswalkers.

Blind Obedience - Stopping haste creatures and slowing down fast mana earns this card a spot in our deck. It is a bit of a non-bo with our "Only One" package. We won't be able to chain a bunch of cheap Extorted spells together. That being said we'll alawys have the extra mana to Extort our one spell. If we're running light on mana we can choose not to extort to try and bluff a card in our hand. Leave up do we have a Swords to Plowshares in our hand? Look troubled and leave just three up maybe there's a Teferi's Protection. Playing a mono coloured deck we're at a disadvantage so we'll need to be creative and play the players not just the board.

Deification *f-etch* - Double duty protecting one type of Planeswalker, no targeted removal and attacks are voided. Let's face it we'll most likely be choosing Gideon. We'll always have an active card:ideon of the Trials (AKH) Emblem will always be active. Gideon Jura can tank every +2. There are other applications but these are the most prominent.

Elspeth's Talent - There are times our Planeswalkers' loyalty abilities aren't relevant or we really need to tick up the loyalty for no advantage. For this deck what is always relevant? More blockers! If they stick around or we have other creatures they get a boost and Vigilance letting them block and still have the energy to block. If this is put on a Planeswalker with only minus loyalty abilities, like The Wanderer, we can actually +1 her and potentially get more use out of her -2

Luxior, Giada's Gift - Might be overstating but, this is the perfect Equipment for a Planeswalker deck. If we want to play defense and protect one of our Walkers from one of their biggest weaknesses, being attacked we can do so and can still choose to block. However, we've taken away a little of our opponents' power. When want to go on the offence, as mentioned in the "White Walkers" section Ad Nauseam, all of the Gideon Planeswalkers have an ability to turn themselves into base X/X creatures which functions like a better, and free, Giant Growth. They also come into play with a large number of Loyalty and have some big symbol:loyalty-plus effects to make up for their lack of a traditional ultimate. An interesting interaction with a couple our Gideon Planeswalkers wielding this sword when it comes to wraths. When turned into creatures with their own abilities Gideon Blackblade, Gideon of the Trials & Gideon, Champion of Justice are indestructible (Gideon, Ally of Zendikar, Gideon, Martial Paragon & the backside of Kytheon, Hero of Akros   ) also become indestructible) thus, we can clear all the creatures with a wrathand swing in. One downside to equipping a Planeswalker is it's no longer affected by cards like The Chain Veil, unless there's a second walker Luxior can be passed off to. There are many other uses for Luxior and as more Walkers are printed there will be more ways to take advantage of this amazing card.

Glacial Chasm - When we need to take a breather and give our Walkers a chance to get their loyalty up we play this card. It's not grouped with the lands because...it doesn't produce mana. It doesn't count towards our land count either. If an opponent is playing Urborg, Tomb of Yawgmoth or Yavimaya, Cradle of Growth that's great but can't be counted on. Combined with a cheeky Solemnity there wouldn't be any upkeep, though not recommended for playing just Chasm.

Maze of Ith - Like Glacial Chasm it doesn't produce mana and doesn't count towards our land count. It will invalidate an attack and it can't be countered. This is personal but when building a land base we shouldn't count any lands that don't produce mana on their own.

Onakke Oathkeeper - How badly do you need to kill a Planeswalker? How much are you willing to give up? If this ogre spirit is on our side it's per creature and we'll still have a chance to block. Once it's laid down his life (?) it's willing to bring a Planeswalker it failed back. Tailor made for any Planeswalker deck with white.

Reidane, God of the Worthy   / Valkmira, Protector's Shield   - We're mostly playing her for her tax on just out opponents bigger spells. Their snow lands coming into play tapped is slightly above flavour text. Because of her flipside Reidane   scales up in the late game. After her tax is no longer relevant Valkmira, Protector's Shield   prevents one damage to us, our creatures and Planeswalkers and also gives them all Ward . If we're worried about opponents' Clones causing our Snow Lands to come into play tapped it's pretty easy to give up niche advantages/flexibility Search for Glory grant and use regular basics.

Lotus Petal - Sometimes just one more can make the difference from making a play this turn or next, or winning now or never. If it show up late our "Only One" plan hopefully by that time we're already setup to win.

Wayfarer's Bauble - Good early game play and thins the deck a little. Again, It may hurt later on with our "Only One" plan hopefully by that time we're already setup to win.

Arcane Signet - Let's start with Baulder's Gate art is the best art. Next this is at its' best in multicoloured decks but that doesn't mean it's not good in our mono coloured deck. Most mana rocks only make . If they do make coloured mana there's a drawback.

Deep Gnome Terramancer - What madness is this? A mono-white card that searches for lands AND doesn't care if you have fewer lands than an opponent. And has Flash? Is that even legal? This doesn't count lands from hand but lands fetched and ramped into. We can also try and force activations every-now-and-then from cards like Path to Exile and Ghost Quarter. Our opponents don't HAVE to get a land but if they're not searching for lands after we use these cards, or cards like them, seems like a complete win.

Basalt Monolith - A fairer Mana Vault. Works well with Voltaic Key.

Honor-Worn Shaku - There are lists out there that use Worn Powerstone that should be this instead. It's possible it doesn't produce or more mana, but the upside is too big to ignore. First, it comes into play untapped. Second it turns all of our Planeswalkers into mana sources and unless we've attacked with a Gideon or a Walker with Luxior, Giada's Gift equipped tapped or untapped doesn't matter. Leading to the third point there are a few Legendary Equipment that can also be leveraged for mana and they too don't care if they're tapped or not.

Mana Vault - Functions a lot like a sorcery speed Dark Ritual which can go into any deck that also comes with a loan agreement. We have to pay 125% of what we were given and every time we're late paying it back we take a damage.

Sol Ring - We are are playing Commander, so we're playing it. Sol Ring may as well be the logo of the format.

Thran Dynamo - Simple and straight forward tap for .

Voltaic Key - Is this going to untap an non-mana rock from time-to-time? Of course. Will we untap an artifact creature to provide an extra blocker? Sure. Will we untap an opponent's artifact so that they can stop the biggest threat at the table or to gain some political points? Why not. However, the key is here, more often than not, to untap one of our mana rocks which makes more than one mana.

Aura of Silence - Also a great tax piece. When it's in play all our opponent's artifacts are enchantments are more and when something dangerous gets into play we can destroy it.

Generous Gift - When there's a problem that absolutely has to be dealt with; send an elephant in to sit on it. Colour-shifted Beast Within is all but a staple of decks with white in Commander at this point.

Path to Exile - Very low opportunity cost. It exiles. There's also a non-zero chance that we won't have to pay up when they search for a basic land. We can also get a treasure token with Smuggler's Share if the opponent in question has played just one land this turn.

Swords to Plowshares - When it positively, absolutely has to go. We're playing for the long game and the life gain is not an issue.

Ancient Den - Here for Urza's Saga. Both to pump the construct tokens and just in case all our one drops are: played, in hand, in the graveyard or exiled. There's a bit of anti-synergy with Tragic Arrogance

Castle Ardenvale - Land that can create blockers. There are occasions when it will come into play tapped but with the number of basic plains we're playing that shouldn't be too often. Our “Only One” package makes for a decent mana sink but, there’s a better one down further.

City of Traitors - When it does get sacrificed it'll help to activate Land Tax.

Crawling Barrens - After the board wipes we want to be able to attack and block. Tall order, but creature lands have our back. This one has a bonus because we can sink extra mana into it to give it +1/+1 counters AND we aren't obligated to turn it into a creature and leave it vulnerable. By the time it's ready to swing it can be quite tall. Finally, with our “Only One” cards we’ll likely have extra mana and this is a really good sink.

Demolition Field - For the purposes of multiplayer Commander/EDH this is superior to Field of Ruin because only you and the opponent whose losing a land get to search for a land. With Field of Ruin everybody gets a land. Commander/EDH is a very greedy format and it's possible we'll destroy a Gaea's Cradle and they get nothing back.

Eiganjo, Seat of the Empire - Good versatile land that can be a mana source or uncounterable creature removal.

Emeria, the Sky Ruin - Comes into play tapped but the upside is so good when the game goes long, which is all part of our plan.

Ghost Quarter - Nobody likes land destruction but, targeted land destruction is necessary for dealing with problem lands. This one is fair-ish. We'll give them a basic land back and as long as the opponent doesn't have a greedy mana base they'll be fine. If they do get a land it may push us behind on lands and turn on Land Tax.

Karn's Bastionfoil - Pretty self explanatory. It's a mana sink which gets our Walkers: another minus ability, their ultimate or make it just a little bit harder to kill.

Kor Haven - First of many redos for Maze of Ith. The main advantage this has over its predecessor is it taps for mana. The disadvantage is we now have to pay to stop an attacking creature from dealing damage. This can be used in corner case situations when we prevent damage from being dealt and block but our creature(s) survive and their's end up in the graveyard.

Mistveil Plains - Criminally underplayed. It allows us to, eventually, replay spells. It can also stop us from milling out. The foil watermark also looks great!

Nykthos, Shrine to Nyx - Conditional Sol-Land. As we build our board presence we'll have a lot of extra mana when we hit a big spell

Throne of the High City -

Call the Gatewatch - On it's surface it seems like a slam dunk for the deck. White doesn't have many tutors and this is on theme. Seems perfect. I would counter that there's a better option AND we're playing it, Search for Glory.

Curse of Exhaustion because, it only hits one player and costs more than all the others.

Deploy the Gatewatch - Using this card in this deck is being a slave to theme. Compare it to Collected Company. For that to consistently hit two creatures requires the deck to run at least 23 creatures. To get similar results we'd need to play 40ish Planeswalkers. Does that sound good?

Flagstones of Trokair - if we were running mass land destruction this is an easy include without it's a basic land that can't be searched.

Nyx Lotus - This could be easily swapped for Thran Dynamo so why isn't it here? It comes into play tapped. There are a lot of times when there are less than three on the table. As hard as we're trying to keep our Walkers on the battlefield they're incredibly vulnerable and other permanents we control aren't indestructible. There's a very real chance when this comes down it might not produce ANY mana. I'd play Gilded Lotusfoil before I'd play this.

Phyrexian Censor - Seems like this would fit in nicely in the "Only One" category. It would, if not for the second clause. All the tokens our Planeswalkers make and depend on to block would come into play tapped.

Urza Assembles the Titans - this card was originally in the deck, if you're curious, check 'Those Who Lost Their Spot' if you want to know why it was in the deck. The first chapter just doesn't dig deep enough to be consistently useful. We're very unlikely to get a Planeswalker. For the second chapter it only ramps us for 3 of our, admittedly powerful, Planeswalkers. If we want any of our Planeswalkers to be uncounterable cards like Silence or Grand Abolisher get the job done better. The third chapter is just win more plain and simple.

Urza's Ruinous Blast - On the surface this seems like an auto include. It seems wipes away everything away and we keep our Commander and Planeswalker or two. The reality is this isn't going to be a one-sided board wipe. Permanents are going to be left around on all sides and when we want to clear the battlefield we want it all cleared. In most scenarios we want a fresh start and not one where we have a fresh start except for what REALLY needs to go on the table.

Sensei's Divining Top - Slowing down games since and annoying folks since 2004.

Mana Cryptfoil - Are we playing Commander? Yes. Are we rich? Apparently. Then of course we're playing it.

Thought Vessel - Helps to give ramp us. Flavour text works well with Land Tax.

Thaumatic Compass  /Spires of Orazca   - Not really ramp. It's either land drop replacement or land catch-up which makes it perfect for mono-white. The flipside also gives us more protection for our Planeswalkers and ourselves with Spires  , a Maze of Ith that can also tap for .

Archivist of Oghma - Every time an opponent searches their library we get a card and one life. It's a good thing fetch lands, tutors, and ramp aren't things in Commander or we'd draw a lot of cards. Flash is a nice asset. card:Archivist of Ogham|Archivist can stay safe in hand until someone searches. Or can a surprise blocker. In rare situations we can cast her at the end of an opponent's turn so we can attack.

Stoneforge Mystic - Efficiently searches up our equipment. It's main purpose is to get and cheapen Helm of the Host from 4 to 2 and give it flash. If you're not playing Helm of the Host Stoneforge Mystic can be replaced by Open the Armory or Steelshaper's Gift.

Oath of Gideon - Gives two bodies to block and all Planeswalkers get to take an extra point of damage, or may be to stick around after a hit and being ticked down.

Peacekeeper - The greatest mystery of the Peacekeeper...why does she have any power? She let's us stall with unfriendly board states, either to tick our Walkers or find an answer. Unfortunately, her updated rules text has changed "bury" to "sacrifice". If it had stayed the same we could keep adding a shield counter from Elspeth Resplendent every turn and avoid paying the .

Smuggler's Share - This card will be a standard for any Commander deck playing white before too long. At we're getting a chance to draw a card if an opponent drew two or more and that stacks for each opponent. If someone decides to ramp or play and crack a fetch a land we'll get a treasure. Might be overselling this but it really feels like a white Rhystic Study.

Urza Assembles the Titans - Wasn't really what category this could fit into. As stated up in the "White Walkers" and "Exclusions" sections Deploy the Gatewatch doesn't really work for us because we just don't have the density of Planeswalkers to conistantly get one Walker off it let alone two. For this reason, more often than not, the first chapter is useless to us. BUT this saga has the Dominaria United ability Read Ahead so we can jump right into the second chapter allowing us to put a Planeswalker into play that costs or less. For us this is all of them except Big Ugin. The final chapter can break the game wide open for us because we'll use all of our walkers twice. Depending on the situation we could start here and just go over the top of every one ticking up and then ultimating all our Walkers. We don't usually reside in Magical Christmas Land so most of the time we'll be starting on chapter two.

Ephemerate - We can protect one of our creatures, or Planeswalkers in creature mode (not just Gideons thanks toLuxior) , from targeted removal and get to use an Enter the Battlefield ability during the upkeep. The most obvious thing we can do is blink our Djeru to get a little more searching done.

Gideon's Triumph - Planeswalkers are incredibly vulnerable permanents. This card allows us to play into that problem. We're also playing a lot of Gideon Planeswalkers forcing a second sacrifice. There's no guarantee we'll get to kill the creature we want but for a potential two creatures is a pretty good rate.

Cataclysm *list* - Printed back in the day when there were no Planewalkers and Cataclysm *list* names what is going to be sacrificed. We even knock everyone's permanents down to 4. Except for Walkers, those are left untouched. We'll also be able to float mana and cast a few spells after the wipe.

Cut a Deal - Karn, Scion of Urza was a bust as a card draw engine. to draw a card & exile a card and maybe get a chance to do it again just didn't work. Back to the drawing board and there's this card. On the high end we'll draw three for and each opponent gets one card. With the high number of board wipes in our deck it'll be a tough to negotiate with Secret Rendezvous.

Settle the Wreckage - Exiling is good. Replacing them with basics lands isn't so bad. As stated many times Commander has some very greedy land bases and the attacking player probably won't get full value. However, this only affects one player and it only exiles the attacking creatures . Worth a spot but its place is tentative.

Hallowed Burial - A criminally undervalued wrath effect. Yes, the creatures can be searched up again, but they have to be cast again as well. Essentially, two spells. Compare that to the better reanimation spells go straight from the graveyard to the battlefield. Mass restriction are also out of luck. It also deals with indestructible creatures quite nicely.

Fabled Passage & Prismatic Vista- Seems strange but we're also playing Sensei's Divining Top and these two will help us shuffle up a new top three cards. There's something to be said about deck thinning, it's dubious, but it can be said.

Mobilized District - Again, creature lands come to the rescue from our scorched earth plan. for a 3/3 every attack is pretty steep, however even after a board wipe we're likely to be getting some discount. When we're ahead and trying to close out the game getting a 3/3 for or is not out of the question. The District also has vigilance so when we're done with attacks it's still a usable mana source.

Untaidake, the Cloud Keeper - The third forgotten land in the triumvirate of Boseiju, Who Shelters All & Hall of the Bandit Lord. This is the poor man's Ancient Tomb...the poor man who also happens to be playing a deck full of Legendary cards, which happens to be us. Cards on the table sometimes we're going to have to cross our fingers and hope that one of our opponents will play an Urborg or Yavamaya so we can get any mana out of it. When we do line up this land with our legendary cards we'll be enjoying that bit of extra ramp.

Ajani, Strength of the Pride -This is going to be repeated a few times in the card explanations. There's a lot of synergy between the different categories and some cards could go into multiple sub-categories. This is one of them. Ajani is try to leverage our life gain. The +1. Is usually not not the first thing we go for. -2 is the most common ability we'll be activating to protect this Ajani. The ultimate, let's just say when I said we wouldn't be trying to set off a Planeswalker's 0 right away, this is the exception. If this hits the battlefield and we have 55+ life we're wiping out our opponent's creatures and artifacts.

Elspeth, Knight-Errant - The original card:Elspeth, Knight-Errant(ALA)| Elspeth Planeswalker. Way back she was considered the best Placeswalker, until Jace, the Mind Sculptor came along. So what does she do? She has two +1 making somewhat unique. The first +1 gives us a soldier token that plays well with Skullclamp. If we want to go on the offence with her token, or anything else, her second +1 pumps and gives evasion. Her ultimate protects our non-Planeswalker permanents from destruction. Not unappealing in a deck with a large number of board wipes.

Elspeth Resplendent - Let's start with the final ability. It's underwhelming to fine in Commander. Her other two abilities are rather interesting. If we already have a creature out we can make it better with the +1. It also works surprisingly well with Luxior. Elspeth will give herself more loyalty an ability and +2/+2 (bravo on the synergy Wizards). The real juice is in her -3. Putting a permanent into play with a shield counter is no joke. And unlike Deploy the Gatewatch 2/3s of our deck's cards are hits. Could it be a land? Yes. Will it likely be better than a land? The way our deck is constructed likely, yes.

Karn, Scion of Urza - Cooperate Karn can help us dig for cards. We're mono-white so we take our card advantage where we can. He can also make X/X constructs to protect our Super Friends. We aren't a dedicated artifact deck but they can still grow to a reasonable size.

Nahiri, the Lithomancer - Occasionally seen in Legacy sideboards this is probably the weakest of our Walkers. The starting Loyalty is low. The Ultimate's a bad joke in a format with Cyclonic Rift. However, The +2 provides protection for one of our Walkers or combined with Skullclamp we another way to draw two cards. The -2 is the primary reason for this card. We can recover a lost Luxior or put a Helm of the Host on to the Battlefield for free. She'll never be the first choice when our Commander comes into play but, she has enough utility to deserve a spot. If she's okay we may make more room for other equipment.

Serra the Benevolent - She's a hedge against flyers (a place we're weak) and the plan is to use her three times. We want to be creating a Serra Angel token right off the bat. With it's vigilance we can play offence and defense. Then in an ideal series of turns we'll use her +2 and the turn after -3 to make a final Serra Angel and Serra the Benevolent will return to her Sanctum . She's niche but, fills that niche very well.

Teyo, the Shieldmage - Solid three drop. The -2 gives us a couple of good blockers and the passive ability helps to protect us.

Suggestions

Updates Add

Cataclysm out for Martial Coup ( apparently even if you leave one land it's still mass land destruction)

Karn, Scion of Urza -out for Cut a Deal

Teyo, the Shield Mage out for Elspeth, Knight-Errant

Comments

94% Casual

Competitive

Date added 5 years
Last updated 18 hours
Exclude colors UBRG
Legality

This deck is Commander / EDH legal.

Rarity (main - side)

11 - 0 Mythic Rares

38 - 0 Rares

27 - 0 Uncommons

5 - 0 Commons

Cards 100
Avg. CMC 3.14
Tokens Construct 0/0 C, Elephant 3-3 G, Emblem Elspeth, Sun's Champion, Emblem Gideon of the Trials, Human 1/1 W, Samurai 2/2 W w/ Double strike, Samurai 2/2 W, Soldier 1/1 W, Spirit 2/2 C, The Monarch, Treasure
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